I really appreciate this post. This is also fueling our over protection of kids- they are not allowed independence- escorted from school bus to door- but stranger is much less likely to abuse them than Uncle Harry or pastor or .... so, not allowed to develop skills of discernment, all fear no trust- not allowed to meet and learn from neighbors, old people, no respect for them only skepticism. Meanwhile, there are no more stories about families, school, only stories about police or horror on mass entertainment so no ideas offered beyond fear the world, trust the cops.
This belief also leads to the creation and propagation of the sex offender list, which has never been shown to help anything, and in fact it only causes more crime and harm. This is because almost no sexual crimes are perpetrated by strangers, contrary to popular belief.
This is fantastic and critical thinking, writing, awareness, and work.
I share the concern and make note of two personal items-
Durham, NC has entered a new phase where sirens are heard everyday, multiple times. It feels like an intentional policy and has been a quantitative, and qualitative, change.
Second, the erosion of accountability and teansparency Alec refers to in the judicial branch, I would argue took root in rhe corporate and business world. Employees are compelled to obey and attempts at fairness are met with authoritarian accusations of being disgruntled, or insubordinate, etc...
Capitalism in general is by design an authoritarian system that through relentless and pervasive propaganda has established itself in the minds of working class people as not only the best but the ONLY possible way to organize society.
I was just talking with my colleagues yesterday about how the government's weaponization of the immigration bureaucracy is more likely than ever to lead to widespread corruption and extortion of immigrants. We were specifically talking about a new $1000 fee that will be charged to people being admitted to the United States with humanitarian parole -- and that will be collected, by some system that does not yet exist, by CBP and ICE. You can easily imagine this being used by individual CBP and ICE officers to directly extort/solicit bribes from people who are just trying to comply with the rule and don't know how to actually make the payment. In the same way, the new asylum fee requirements have already been used to sow confusion and fear among the population (which is the point) and also have led to scam campaigns, with bad actors creating fake websites to collect the payments and telling people on social media that if they don't pay immediately their application will be denied and they will be deported. With so much pointless red tape, and so little official information about how to actually comply with the rules, it becomes incredibly easy for people to prey on and take advantage of immigrants -- which I have to imagine is also the point.
I really appreciate this post. This is also fueling our over protection of kids- they are not allowed independence- escorted from school bus to door- but stranger is much less likely to abuse them than Uncle Harry or pastor or .... so, not allowed to develop skills of discernment, all fear no trust- not allowed to meet and learn from neighbors, old people, no respect for them only skepticism. Meanwhile, there are no more stories about families, school, only stories about police or horror on mass entertainment so no ideas offered beyond fear the world, trust the cops.
This belief also leads to the creation and propagation of the sex offender list, which has never been shown to help anything, and in fact it only causes more crime and harm. This is because almost no sexual crimes are perpetrated by strangers, contrary to popular belief.
Love your work Alec ✌️
This is fantastic and critical thinking, writing, awareness, and work.
I share the concern and make note of two personal items-
Durham, NC has entered a new phase where sirens are heard everyday, multiple times. It feels like an intentional policy and has been a quantitative, and qualitative, change.
Second, the erosion of accountability and teansparency Alec refers to in the judicial branch, I would argue took root in rhe corporate and business world. Employees are compelled to obey and attempts at fairness are met with authoritarian accusations of being disgruntled, or insubordinate, etc...
Capitalism in general is by design an authoritarian system that through relentless and pervasive propaganda has established itself in the minds of working class people as not only the best but the ONLY possible way to organize society.
I was just talking with my colleagues yesterday about how the government's weaponization of the immigration bureaucracy is more likely than ever to lead to widespread corruption and extortion of immigrants. We were specifically talking about a new $1000 fee that will be charged to people being admitted to the United States with humanitarian parole -- and that will be collected, by some system that does not yet exist, by CBP and ICE. You can easily imagine this being used by individual CBP and ICE officers to directly extort/solicit bribes from people who are just trying to comply with the rule and don't know how to actually make the payment. In the same way, the new asylum fee requirements have already been used to sow confusion and fear among the population (which is the point) and also have led to scam campaigns, with bad actors creating fake websites to collect the payments and telling people on social media that if they don't pay immediately their application will be denied and they will be deported. With so much pointless red tape, and so little official information about how to actually comply with the rules, it becomes incredibly easy for people to prey on and take advantage of immigrants -- which I have to imagine is also the point.